This study describes a successful contract farming story for flowers in Fiji. It shows the impact of contract farming on women's access to markets

1. http://www.fao.org/contract-farming
Course on
OPERATIONAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF CONTRACT
FARMING SCHEMES
CASE STUDY: FLOWER CONTRACT FARMING IN
FIJI

2. http://www.fao.org/contract-farming
• The flower industry in Fiji
• The company South Sea Orchids (SSO)
• SSO’s CF Operation
• Impacts of the CF operation
Contents

3. http://www.fao.org/contract-farming
• Flowers are a growing market in Fiji
▫ High domestic demand for floriculture products
 Weddings, funerals and more recently a growing
demand for household an business decoration
 Tenfold growth during the first decade of this
century
• More than 1000 people directly involved in the industry,
most of them women
▫ Mostly semi-commercial cut-flower growers and a few
small commercial growers
The flower industry in Fiji

4. http://www.fao.org/contract-farming
• Company started in the early 80s, introducing
commercial orchid growing into the country
• Growth in demand led company to develop a contract
farming operation
▫ Targets village women, offering training and assisting in
seeking loans to start their businesses (shade houses and
planting material)
 Also seeks donor funds to set farmers in business
▫ Commits to buy 100% of the flowers produced
 Payments made monthly to growers
▫ 270 women under contracts by 2009
 Working from home, minimizing costs
South Sea Orchids

5. http://www.fao.org/contract-farming
• CF relationship ongoing for several years
• Company also successfully developed CF relations with
women from an impoverished area (a squatter’s
resettlement)
▫ Income generation for a disadvantaged target group
• Model works well in Fiji;
▫ SSO has been often involved in trainings in the Pacific,
invited to present the model to other countries
Impacts: South Sea Orchids

6. http://www.fao.org/contract-farming
www.fao.org/contract-farming